Longmont police arrest two in Wednesday night fire

Police ID the two suspects as transients; motive unknown

Longmont police arrested on Thursday two young men suspected of setting Wednesday night’s fire near the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

August Adams, 18, and Robert Fitzpatrick, 22, are being held at the Boulder County Jail on suspicion of second-degree arson, according to police reports. The two are believed to have set fire to a pile of railroad ties about O of a mile east of First Avenue and Martin Street, creating a blaze that broke overhead power lines and generated smoke that could be seen for miles.

Officers reported the arrest at 1 a.m. Thursday, after holding the men for identification by an eyewitness. Police described both men as transients.

Adams and Fitzpatrick each appeared in court Thursday afternoon at the Boulder County Jail, where their bonds were set at $20,000, according to a spokeswoman for the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office. They are scheduled to appear in court at 2 p.m. Tuesday for filing of charges.

Robert Fitzpatrick (Longmont Police Department)

Police do not yet know why the fire was started. No one was injured in the fire and no structures were damaged.

BNSF owns the land where railroad ties and pieces of a bridge from Berthoud — all moved to the site after September’s flood — were stored, spokesman Andy Williams said.

“They were sorting those timbers out,” Williams said. “Some of them were going to be reused.”

Crews from the Longmont Fire Department initially responded to the scene and called in Mountain View Fire Rescue as backup.

The fire was initially spotted and reported at about 7:51 p.m. Wednesday. Most of the visible flames were doused by 9:30 p.m.

August Adams (Longmont Police Department)

Power went out at 8:08 p.m. for more than 350 customers of Longmont Power and Communications, mostly in the Weaver Park Business Park south of Third Avenue off Alpine Street. Power was restored by 8:50 p.m., according to LPC spokeswoman Deb Cameron. The wastewater plant also lost power very briefly, she said.

Wednesday night, workers scattered the ties so firefighters could douse the still-burning embers. Thursday morning, only a few wisps of smoke remained visible as the work continued, according to MVFR spokeswoman Amy Tallent.

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